This is the issue of Rock Sound magazine (Issue 119, february 2009) I will be using to annotate and understand more on how the magazine works, along with it's advertising which is linked to the publishing company and the target audience.
- The first advertisement is on the inside of the front cover, which is a very expensive place to advertise due to it being one of the first things you see in the magazine. It is the first of most likely many music adverts. It is a record label advertising albums and EPs from artists that are signed to them. The advert seems very eyecatching with a quirky background image of many CD's and text along with images of front covers of albums and EPs overlapping this background. The advertisement is very article like as it tells the reader a bit about the band and the album in the first place.
- The next advertisement is a few pages after the contents page, it a full page spread advertising the new 'Deathstars' album with a huge picture of the band accompanied by the name of the band and the name of the album with a picture of the front cover of it so the reader can recognise it when it shops. The advert is very dark, which relates to the band themselves as they seem to hold the 'goth' image with very pale, white faces and black eyes and black hair. The advert may appeal greatly to 'Deathstars' fans as fans tend to follow the same image as the bands they enjoy.
- An advertisement is used on the next page in the letters section, however it is only quite small and taking up some room on the page. It is a 1/3 page advert and is for 'Attitude clothing' (which has a huge number of adverts in Kerrang magazine). For a small advert, it takes up most of it's space by listing the brands they sell and with a picture of a girl with many facial piercings, however her clothes aren't on show which defeats the purpose of the advert as the reader can't tell if the clothes 'Attitude' are selling appeal to their taste.
- Rock Sound does a little self-endorsement a few pages later with a small column advertising what is showing on Rock Sound TV (such as acoustic sets, interviews etc...). Tempting readers onto Rock Sound's digital advancements and to gather more reader satisfaction.
- Another music based advertisement is used in the magazine similar to the size of the 'Attitude clothing' advert. It is for an album released by a band called 'The Tyrant Lizard Kings'.
- A whole page is dedicated to an advertisement by Cargo Records who are trying to ge the word out about bands new albums who are signed to their label. The list of bands and albums are unheard of, I certainly haven't heard of them, which is why the record label also provide shops in which you will find the CDs as they are obviously hard to come by.
- Yet another music advertisement is used on a full page spread by a record label, the advert follows the same conventions, however looks a lot more proffessional than many of the others. It also includes tour dates for the bands they are promoting, suggesting that people who are interested in the bands would be keen gig goers.
- A whole section in the magazine is used similar to the two pages in Kerrang! (Introducing: new music coming your way...). This section in Rock Sound magazine is about 10 pages and called 'Exposure: the best new music' which also can be seen as advertising that won't cost any money to the band as the magazine is just trying to fill its content and help out its readers by introducing them to new bands and music, which the magazine is famous for.
- The magazine carries on with a bit of self-endorsement by using a 1/3 page spread dedicated to letting readers know about their subcription deal. The advert includes back issues of the magazine and the front cover of an album they are giving away for free with the subscription, plus a low price in bold to attract audience attention.
- The music advertisements continue throughout the magazine, however still adapting to the theme of the magazine being underground as it is many small bands that the readers haven't heard of. A whole page is conquered by 4 advertisements, one half page one, one 1/4 page and 2 1/8 page. They all hold the same aim; to advertise their new album and hope for readers to be interested.
- Another music full page advertisement from a record label is used, this time a well known record label, however it is advertising bands that aren't heard of in other more mainstream magazines such as Kerrang. The colour of the overall page is very dark, like that of the album covers, relating to them.
- The next page of advertisements are a bit different to the ones seen earlier in the magazine, about half the page is bright and quirky promoting tour dates for the band 'Polar Bear Club', whilst the second half of the page is dark, dull and smoky promoting an album with a similar artwork for its front cover. However, at the bottom of the page, a banner with band tshirts is used aswell to advertise a company selling clothing merchandise. This suggests that fans of the magazine will want to follow the bands they like as much as they can by not only buying their CDs and going to see them live, but also wearing tshirts with the band's name on them.
- Another full page of adverts are used, however this time the bands are more well known. Such as British band 'Architects' (absolutely amazing band) who are doing very well with their new album and another band called 'The Eyes Of A Traitor'. Again, the 4 adverts follow the same conventions, the colours adapt to the colour and style of the album artwork and there is a picture of the band to put faces to the music.
- The adverts are starting to get more 'commercial' now as a half page of a big American band is seen promoting their new album. However, this one breaks the rules of the layout as the whole advert is the band artwork and a picture of the band is not seen at all.
- Rock Sound use the rest of the page for more self-endorsement as they promote their digital advancements, this time with rock sound mobile, promising the latest news, reviews and gossip.
- The next article can be argued to be an adverisement as it is simply pictures of clothes and where to buy them from. This article is quite a new addition to the magazine called 'Off the peg' which adds fashion to the magazine. The clothes included are mainly tshirts with a massive picture on it and shoes such as 'vans', 'converse' and 'Dr Martins'. There is only a small section that is dedicated showing girl's clothes which are dresses and bikinis. This suggests that Rock Sound expect most of their target audience to be dressed in certain brands and are mostly male.
- The next advertisements are situated just before the reviews section of the magazine which is an expensive place to put your advertisements due to many people turning to the reviews section just to see what albums they are being recommended and these advertisements can catch their eye. The advertisements are for two new albums that have only just been released or are coming out and (very handy) have just been reviewed in the same issue of the magazine.
- The next two adverts are situated in a very uncommon place as they sit at the side of an article in the reviews section. One of 1/4 page adverts are simply, plain and promoting tour dates for yet another underground band, whilst another is promoting an album from band of the moment 'Rolo Tomassi'. However, the advert promoting the album is very different, the background is a picture of half of the girl vocalist's face with all attention on her eye and the only words in the space are on her cheek and reviews from magazines such as kerrang, Q and Rock Sound. Using the girl in the picture immediately grabs the attention of the supposed male target audience and it seems quite 'sexy' as her eye is very big and is staring at the reader.
- Towards the gig section of the magazine, a lot more adverts are used that are also promoting tours from bands themselves. Many are just 1/4 page and from bigger bands as the underground bands can't afford to do so.
- The last 3 pages of the magazine are dedicated to advertising clothing companies such as 'Attitude clothing', 'darkside clothing' and 'loud clothing'. They are the same adverts that can be seen in Kerrang, however are less cluttered as they are all half page spreads and therefore bigger giving each advert space and the reader a chance to be able to see the adverts.
- The back page of the magazine advertises the latest addition to 'Guitar Hero' game. It suggests to the reader that the target audience are musicians or dream to be like one and therefore will like playing the game due to being able to play a guitar, bass or drums to their favourite songs.
Unlike Kerrang, the magazine tend to include a lot less adverts, probably to not bring on the image of a 'sell-out' magazine. Again you can argue most of the magazine is an advertisement. As the magazine has sections such as reviews, exposure and gigs that allows new bands to be advertised to music fans for no price. Of course, this is the aim of magazines, (especially this certain magazine) to inform the reader of new subjects from their particular hobby.
The magazine has a lot less advertisements and appears thicker than the weekly kerrang magazine that is always packed full of badly placed advertisements. Being at only £3.80 per month (Kerrang readers would be paying more for just 2 weeks worth of the magazine), the magazine is very good value for money as it doesn't try to force advertisements down your throat and the advertisements themselves sometimes act as articles in the magazine due to how many music promoting ones there were.
All the advertisements in the magazine were music or image related, which add to the fact that
3 comments:
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Hi Becky,
I have just read your blog with much interest and it is a very well thought out and written piece.
As I run an independent DIY label, I always try to put as much information and artwork as possible in my ads, yet try to make each one individual.
Your description of the magazine, it's layout and the content it includes is spot on, and it is a reoccuring theme month after month, after all if somethig works, why change it.
I first started reading Kerrang! back in the 80's when I was a teenager and the magazine back then was geared more to an adult readership unlike today. It was published bi-monthly and mainly black & white and cost 80p.
One of the best features back then was a page called 'Shrapnel', which was basicly a contacts page for musicians, labels and fanzines. Many bands formed out of that page and began their road to stardom from it (The Wildhearts, Little Angels, Thunder & The Almighty to name a few) and it almost single-handedly started the NNWOBHM (the Next New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) which had it's heyday between '88 & '93.
These days, the internet has taken over with the likes of Myspace & Bebo social networking sites, but without the underground DIY scene (the labels, fanzines & promoters) the music industry in this country would become very stale very fast. Yet the major magazines don't give any time to them (except Big Cheese).
Sections like Exposure & Introducing are very important for new bands and underground labels, and whilst most of the smaller labels can't really afford the prices the magazines charge to appear in these sections, that one appearance could boost sales and keep the label going for anothe 12 months and help another new band get released, maybe in time your favourite new band.
Without it we'd have no Gallows, no Architects and no labels like In At The Deep End.
However, it is very rare to see labels like Household Name, Boss Tunage & BSM advertising in the mainstram mags. Maybe at the end of the day £600 for a 1/4 page 1 month run just isn't worth it.
I agree with this fully but what tempo ought to be used with this type of education?
I realize trainers who say hypertrophy coaching like this could be 8-12+ reps
with an 8-12 second slow reps, whats your opinion?
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